Where this was said
Healing, Therapy and the Ongoing Work
At 46:14 · chapter starts 44:20
Coming up for air after the most intense disclosures of the episode, Aly and Alex turn to the ongoing work of healing. Aly describes her current regimen: weekly therapy sessions plus daily exposure homework — though she has paused the homework as the Olympics approach, because real-life exposures like attending Olympic trials are intense enough. She describes what exposure therapy actually looks like in practice: reading a children's book that contains her abuser's name, watching a TV show that features the same name in a neutral context, building new associations to reduce the trigger response. Her therapist, she says, has been exceptional at meeting her where she is — not pushing her to 'just tell me everything' from day one, but starting with children's books and working up from there. She also shares a broader message for survivors: don't compare your experience to hers, don't justify it away as 'not bad enough,' and know that if your abuse happened 50 years ago and you are still feeling it every day, that is real and valid. She also notes that she has barely exercised in 8 years — a few minutes of running can trigger a migraine or days of fatigue — and calls out people who ask 'why are you tired?' as ignorant of how profoundly stress and trauma affect the body.
Aly Raisman says she has barely exercised in 8 years because her body still cannot recover properly from the overtraining she endured as a gymnast.
Aly Raisman hasn't properly exercised in 8 years. A few minutes of running can trigger a migraine or nausea that takes days to recover from. The body she pushed to 5% body fat and six hours of daily training is still paying the price.
